Ruthless
by lulang12300
Summary: "Never forget Namine. You belong to me now." Those words rang through her head once again. Namine understood now. It was him. He was finally coming back for her.
1. Prologue

**I'm finally back with another story! I have so many plans for this story and even though it's going to be an adventure one, I'm going to try my hardest to not make it drag and become boring. I've read a lot of adventure stories and found myself skipping through because I got so bored.**

 **.**

 **Prologue: The Curse of the Twins**

"Did you hear? The King and Queen were cursed with twins!"

"Does this mean Twilight Town is destined to be brought into ruin?

"I've read in legends that the previous rulers would just kill the bad one and go on as if they were only meant to have one child."

"I heard that the King really wants to keep both."

All of the gossip died down when the king and queen stepped onto the balcony of their enormous castle. No one spoke, no one whispered, many were even trying to hold their breath. A pin drop could be heard despite the entire population of Twilight Town being present outside of the castle. Today was the day the Queen bore her children. Everyone was eager to know if they would have a prince or a princess. However, when rumors had spread about the queen giving birth to twins, the excitement of the town turned into worry and disdain.

"People of Twilight Town." The king spoke, "Today marks the day where your queen has given birth to our heirs, your future rulers." Many of the townspeople tensed. The king had said heirs, not heir. He had said rulers, not ruler. They had decided to keep both, the people realized.

The queen immediately sensed the tension in the air and stepped forward, "Yes, I have bore twins. Yes, there are bad omens believed to be brought on with twins. However, your King and I refuse to give up a child due to an unproved legend." Several gasps and mutters could be heard among the people.

The king, becoming agitated at the rudeness of his people, boomed. "Enough!" The town was once again quiet, "You may look at this however you wish. A life is blessing, and I refuse to end a life that has not been born yet because of legends and beliefs. How you take this information is up to you alone. You may stay, you may leave, but both of my children are to be treated with the utmost respect and care."

It was silent for a moment before the people of Twilight Town began to cheer. Some meant their cheers, others were just following the crowd. Some had believed in their king. If he believed in his daughters, why shouldn't they? "Our king only cares for his family and the people of his town. He would never do anything to harm us!" They cheered. The King and Queen smiled to themselves, the people of their town truly were like family.

The King raised up a baby with red hair for the townspeople to see, "My friends, family, and my people, cheer aloud for your Princess Kairi."

The queen had also raised up another baby for the townspeople to see. This baby had platinum blonde hair, completely contradicting her twin sisters, "And cheer once again for your Princess Namine!"

The townspeople cried out in happiness, some cried out in fright. Maybe these twins would bring good fortune, maybe they would bring bad luck. All they could do was wait and see. The birth of these babies called for a celebration and despite how some of the inhabitants of Twilight Town felt about these newborns, all attended, all celebrated, and all had forgotten about the curse of the twins, even if only for a night.

Many hours had passed since the celebration had ended and now only stood the King and Queen, each holding one of their children. There was a silence between them, the only sound that could be heard was the gentle breeze of the wind.

"My dear," the King finally spoke, "Tell me the truth." The Queen said nothing, she didn't even look at him. She had already known what he was going to say to her. "You, myself, Aerith, and her are the only ones who know of your dream seer abilities. I want you to tell me what the future brings in store for our daughters. Are they cursed? Has the Curse of the Twins affected our children?"

The Queen continued to stare into the night sky, "I have seen our ends, as well as our beloved Twilight Town's end." The King's eyes widened. "And they both are caused by the baby in my arms." The King looked into his arms and saw his red headed princess, meaning the one that would bring ruin to his Kingdom was-

"I will protect this child with my life." The Queen finally turned to her husband with an icy glare, "From anyone who means to hurt her." The King understood what she meant and leaned closer to her, "He will be coming for them, am I correct?" The Queen nodded, "I have seen it. He knows of their birth and knows that he can use them to finally grant his wish."

The King gazed into the night sky, "I see. Then it is up to us to protect our children."

"Even if it costs us our life."

 **.**

 **Just a little side note, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles heavily inspired this story. If you know what that is, lets obsess over it together! Anyway, it's not going to be the same, but you'll see some similarities.**

 **Hope you all enjoy! Please leave a review!**


	2. Chapter 1

**I just posted the next chapter instead of this one... I am face palming so hard right now. When I realized, I deleted that one so quick! I was like NOOOO they can't see that one yet!**

 **Anyway hope you all enjoy and please be so kind and leave me a review! I like to read through them!**

...

 _ **Chapter 1: Witness**_

"No not there, bumbling idiot! I said more to the right."

"Well maybe if you would speak up then I could hear you, atrocious frog."

"I'll turn you into a frog!"

Princess Kairi was standing on the balcony indoors, listening and watching the chaos that was happening inside the castle. Giggling as she heard the arguing and the occasional curse words, she too grew excited for the upcoming party that was the cause of all this chaos. It was for her eighteenth birthday and of course, there would be a party. All the townspeople were invited and Kairi could not stop jumping up and down from anticipation. She couldn't wait to celebrate with the people she held dear. Kairi especially couldn't wait to celebrate with her twin sister who shared the same birthday as her.

'Except I was fifteen minutes earlier so take that Namine!' She jokingly cheered herself on in her thoughts. "Speaking of Namine where is she?" She wondered aloud.

Kairi marched to Namine's room, greeting her hardworking servants as she passed, to demand her sister to be excited with her. She was about to knock but stopped herself when she heard voices from inside the room.

"How about this one Princess?"

"This is supposed to be a birthday party, not a Halloween party."

Kairi stifled her laughter and opened the door without knocking, much to Namine's annoyance. Kairi couldn't stop herself from bursting out in laughter at Namine's 'ball gown'. It was complete velvet and the sleeves draped down to the floor. Kairi wondered how they expected Namine to eat with sleeves that long. There were stripes of purples and twig looking things that hung from the dress that made it look like a witch's costume. Kairi walked up to her sister and poked her, again to Namine's annoyance.

"Seriously Yuffie?" Kairi addressed the dress maker's assistant, "It's almost ninety degrees out. You don't have anything, well, anything that doesn't look like Friday the thirteenth put together in a dress?" Yuffie shrugged, "Hey, I don't make the dresses. I'm just the assistant."

"I'd rather go naked." Kairi shrugged.

"I'd rather not go at all." Namine deadpanned. Kairi turned to her sister and glared at her for the lack of excitement.

"Well," Yuffie interrupted, "I do have these two dresses. I made them myself and you totally don't have to wear it if you don't want too." Both princesses turned with interest. "I want to see." They both said at the same time. Yuffie flinched a little, finding their interest surprising but wasted no time in retrieving the dresses. In their eyes, nothing could've have been worse than the gown Namine was wearing.

Kairi waited until Yuffie was far away enough before trying to hit her sister on the arm, however Namine with her ridiculously fast reflexes, dodged the attack. "Can you please show a little more excitement for this party? Everyone is working so hard to make it perfect." Namine sighed, "I'm not much of a party person." Kairi squinted at her, knowing that wasn't the case. While Namine and herself had many physical and personality differences, they both loved a good party. Namine, knowing she was caught, finally confessed. "I have a bad feeling about this party."

"It's going to be fine Nam. Every year goes perfectly so there's no reason this year won't. At least pretend to be excited please?" Namine only sighed in defeat before Yuffie returned with two dresses. Both princesses gasped, the dresses were absolute perfection. Yuffie carefully handed Namine a white gown. The front was in a criss-cross shape in the front which revealed some of her shoulders and stomach. From the waist down, it flowed down to the floor, passing Namine's ankles. She would have to be sure to wear heels. Namine also noticed her back would be slightly exposed and silently reminded herself to wear her hair down so it can be covered. Yuffie handed Kairi a pink colored gown. The dress showed some cleavage but not enough for it to not look classy. The bodice was fitted and the dress followed the very popular mermaid style. Kairi eyed the trailing chiffon scarves that would cascade from her shoulders into a train

Kairi squealed from excitement, "Throw away the Halloween costume! I am making sure Namine wears that and I am definitely wearing this." Kairi enveloped Yuffie into a tight hug, making the woman blush in embarrassment. Yuffie hugged her back. "You both will look stunning. Namine didn't hug her like Kairi, only slightly bowing as a sign of thanks. It wasn't that Yuffie and Namine weren't close, they were just as close as Yuffie was with Kairi. Namine just wasn't a hugging type of person.

"Anyway," Yuffie stood up, "It's about time I head back. I must break it to the dress maker that you hated her dress. That's not going to be pretty." Yuffie shivered at the thought. She headed to the door, bid the girls good night, and took her leave.

Namine glanced at her sister before opening her balcony doors and heading out to sit. It was slightly chilly and gave Namine goose bumps but she felt at peace. It reminded her of the times when she was a child and her mother would take her out onto the balcony to calm her when she was crying.

"As happy as I am about this party," Kairi spoke up, still inside the room, "I wish Mom and Dad were here." Namine tensed, wishing she wouldn't go on.

"It happened so late at night. Not even the soldiers saw the person. I wonder how they couldn't hear it all happen. Do you remember Namine? It was two weeks after our fourteenth birthday party. There was chaos in the castle, everyone was interrogated but the murderer wasn't found. It's a shame no one saw, no one even heard. It makes my blood boil that the person is still out there. Maybe he's planning his next attack-"

"Enough." Namine silenced Kairi. Kairi snapped out of her thoughts and eyed her sister. "Don't think about that right now. Focus on the party. You look the best when you're smiling." Kairi couldn't help but smile at her sister's word. As cold as her sister could be, Namine always had a soft spot for Kairi.

"Anyway." Kairi stood up to leave, "I need my beauty sleep. I need to look good for tomorrow. Good night sis, sweet dreams."

Namine waited until she could no longer hear her sister's footsteps before turning back to the night sky. "You are wrong about one thing Kairi. There was one person there. One person who saw everything, who heard everything. Who witnessed our parents die and could do nothing to stop it."

Feeling herself shiver, Namine decided it was time to sleep and quietly made her way to the bed, closing the balcony door once she was inside her bedroom.

'That person'

Namine closed her eyes once her body hit the bed, not even bothering to cover herself with the blankets. She let sleep take over her body, wondering if she would once again have the same nightmare that haunted her every single night.

'Was me.'


	3. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2: Consequence**_

All Namine could do was watch as her dream self stared at the scene before her. The same scene that has haunted her for the past four years, from the moment her eyes opened in the morning to the moment she closed her eyes to sleep. But not even sleep allowed her to escape the past because her nightmares consistently replayed the scene she had been trying to block out for four years.

Namine would never be able to escape the horrors she had witnessed that night. The night her parents were murdered.

.

A fourteen-year-old Namine woke up with a start. After a quick glance through the window, she realized it was still dark out. However, she couldn't shake off this bad feeling that she had. Something was wrong. She decided to check on Kairi.

Namine had to be quiet to avoid the night patrol guards. She snuck out of her room, being careful not to make a sound. As she tiptoed to Kairi's room, she took a quick peep inside. There Kairi was, snoring away. Kairi was such a deep sleeper, Namine wondered how she did it. The slightest sound or movement was enough to wake Namine. Feeling relieved at the sight of her sister sleeping peacefully, Namine quietly closed the door and proceeded to sneak to her parents' bedroom.

It didn't take long for Namine to realize something was wrong. There was another presence in the room, who was giving off a dark and evil aura. She knew her parents were in trouble. Namine realized this and did not hesitate to enter the room. Swiftly she threw the door open, only to realize she was too late. Her mother was being held by her neck by a person covered in a cloak. She looked around frantically and saw her father, dead, laying on the ground. Blood was pooled around him and his eyes were wide open. Namine wanted to throw up.

"Did you really think that you had a chance against me? Foolish woman."

The queen did not resist in the man's grip. Namine's eyes widened. The queen was a dream seer, she could see into the future. She must've known this was going to happen. Why not try to stop it?

"You... will never lay a hand on my precious Namine." The man used his magic to pin the Queen against the wall and used his now free hand to draw his sword. "Oh, but I will. You have already seen the future. Tell me if my wish is granted and I'll spare your life."

"You're... a fool .. to think your wish could be... granted." The queen gasped out.

The man became angry. He raised his sword, "Don't you ever call me a fool!" He dug his sword right into her shoulder. The queen threw her head back but was careful not to scream, as to not attract the guards.

Namine, on the other hand, couldn't keep quiet. "Mother!" Namine called out as she ran to her, wedging herself between the man and her mother. She finally could see some features of this man. She saw blonde hair and blue eyes. His eyes didn't look natural, but they were piercing. It was as if he was staring into her soul. She felt petrified. Was it from magic or just pure fear?

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she was suddenly being lifted by her neck. She squirmed trying to break free, but it only made him tighten his grasp. He had her now and no one could protect her. 'I'm a fool.' Namine thought to herself. What did she think she could do? "Namine no!" Her mother called out frantically, but was still pinned to the wall by his magic.

"This girl. She is the Cursed One." The man started to laugh, "My wish. With this girl, it can finally be granted." He dropped Namine, who began violently coughing and wheezing, trying to regain air in her lungs. "I see. All this time you were using your magic to hide her presence from me. When her presence had vanished shortly after her birth, I had assumed you killed her, just like everyone else. You and I both know that her magic is the key to granting my wish. However, you had no desire to kill your own child, so you used a spell to seal her magic away. I assume you did the same with the Princess of Heart, yes? This way, I would not be able to sense them. What a shame. Your little scheme has failed and now my plan can be put into action."

He released his magical hold on the Queen, making her drop to the floor with a loud thud. "I won't harm your children. In fact, I need them to grow stronger. So, for now, I'll leave them alone." He turned his gaze to Namine, "I'll come back for you when it's time." Namine could only stare at him, not understanding what he meant.

The man turned back to the Queen, "However, I need this spell you put on them to disappear so I'm afraid your life is nothing more than a hindrance." Before Namine could register what was happening, she watched the man drive his sword into her mother's heart. It was as if the entire scene happened in slow motion but her feet were glued to the ground so she couldn't stop him.

He pulled his sword out of her mother's chest, keeping his gaze locked onto Namine as he stood up and summoned a portal. "Never forget Namine. You belong to me now." Holding his hand out, his palm facing her, he summoned a beam of darkness at her. Namine finally gained control of her feet and turned to run from whatever this man was about to do. However, he was much faster than Namine and he shot a beam right into her back. She fell forward feeling a burning sensation where the beam had hit her. She quickly ran to the mirror in the room to see what he had done to her, only seeing a tattoo of a pair of wings. The wings were small and almost looked incomplete. "Fifty two." He said before going through the portal and vanishing.

"Namine...darling" Namine rushed to her mother, "I tried to protect you from the future that awaits you but even I couldn't do anything. A dream seer is not allowed to prevent the vision she sees, and I paid the consequences for my actions with my life."

Tears brimmed Namine's eyes, "I don't understand. What future awaits me? What was so bad that you and father had to die for?" Namine's mother brought a hand up to her daughter's face, "I have no more time Namine. I'm sorry I couldn't prevent what is to come. Never stop fighting Namine, no matter how hard it gets. Always protect your sister. Take care of her." The hand on Namine's face fell to the ground and she heard her mother breathe her last breath. Tears began to spill from Namine's eyes but not a single sound came from Namine's lips.

A bright light enveloped her mother and a feather came out of her chest and floated above her, right in front of Namine.

'Take it.'

Namine took hold of the feather and a bright light blinded her. When she could open her eyes again, she recognized her surroundings, realizing she was back in her bedroom. Was it all a dream? Was it just a nightmare? She sat up, looking around once again. It felt too real to be a dream but she couldn't remember walking back to her room. She looked at her hands, realizing the feather her mother had given her was no longer there. She searched her entire bed in search of the feather and was unable to find it, which confirmed that what she saw must've been a dream. Trying to convince herself that she could be at peace, Namine closed her eyes to go back sleep.

In the back of her mind, Namine knew what she saw was not a dream.

.

The next day, the castle was in utter chaos. The dead bodies of the King and Queen were found in their bedroom. The stench of blood and death surrounded the entire castle and the princesses were not allowed to be separated. They were to be protected at all costs and no one was allowed into the castle anymore.

Namine realized then that what she saw was no dream. When Namine was taken back to her room, she quickly undressed to be able to see her back in full view and ran to her mirror. The marking was there.

It was all reality.

...

Once again, Namine awoke from the nightmare that plagued her every night. She couldn't stop replaying that man's words to her in her head.

 _"Never forget Namine. You belong to me now."_

Namine eyed the marking he gave her that day through the mirror in her room. What was once a small set of wings on her back was now a much larger set of wings that almost completely covered her entire back side. There were much more feathers now and she had wondered how she had managed to cover it for all of these years. She had noticed its change throughout the years but thought nothing of it. She knew the man had given it to her, but she felt no evil aura radiating from the wings. If anything, she seemed to grow stronger as the wings etched further. Namine realized now the mistake of playing it off like it was no big deal. She counted how many there were. When she got the number, she stared in horror and counted again. And again. And again. She kept counting until she could stop denying the truth. She had counted fifty one feathers marking her back, with the next one already starting to form. She would soon be at fifty two, which was the number the man had told her.

Once this mark was fully developed, she knew it would only be the start of what was to come. Something was going to happen to her and maybe even Kairi as well, something so horrible that her parents died trying to prevent it.

Namine had a very bad feeling about tomorrow's celebration.


	4. Chapter 3

**I have a favor to ask of the readers. Leave me a review telling me what you would like to see. Adventure is not really my thing and I'm really trying something new with this, so your help would be greatly appreciated.**

 **Hope you all enjoy!**

.

 _ **Chapter 3: Manifestation**_

It was a new day at Twilight Castle and today was a very special day. It was the birthday of the twin princesses, Princess Kairi and Princess Namine. There was still hustling and bustling going on inside of the castle for any last-minute preparations. Despite that, all seemed to be at peace and everyone had a great feeling about what the day had in store for them.

Everyone, that is, except for Namine.

Namine was still haunted by her thoughts of the previous night. Something bad was going to happen today, she was sure of it. She eyed herself in the mirror, doing any last minute touch ups to her hair and makeup. She had made sure her hair covered her back so no one would be able to see the marking. As worried as she was, she had promised Kairi that she would enjoy herself today. Of course, Namine hadn't told Kairi of her recent thoughts. Kairi was not even aware that Namine had witnessed their parents murder.

"Kairi must never know." Namine whispered aloud. It would break her heart, and she promised her mother to protect her.

When Namine felt all was perfect, she walked out of her room and was surprised to see Kairi waiting for her. Kairi eyed her sister, "I know you like to be alone as you get ready so I didn't barge in for once. Anyway, the party has already started! Shall we make our appearance?" Kairi beamed. She held her arm out for Namine to take. Namine smiled and nodded at her sister, looping her arms around her as they made their way to the hall. All Namine wanted was for Kairi to smile. Even if Namine had to suffer all this alone, seeing Kairi's happiness made it all worthwhile.

.

The party had started at five in the evening and it was now ten. Although Namine was exhausted, Kairi had insisted that the party should go on until the next day. After all, birthdays last the entire day. The townspeople cheered at this and exclaimed that party should never end. Namine rolled her eyes.

Namine watched as the people of Twilight Town danced the night away as she sat on the throne that once belonged to her father. The townspeople bowed to her, remarking how she bears resemblance to the queen. Namine was happy that her kingdom was at peace and that her people could stop what they're doing and celebrate together. Although her kingdom was not very fruitful and saw more hard times than good, nobody was a stranger in Twilight Town and it made Namine proud to call it her home.

She felt a slight pain on her back. Thinking it was because of her posture, she stood up and thought nothing of it. A few minutes later, she felt the same pain again, this time more intense. Catching her reflection in a nearby mirror, she moved her hair and saw that the marking was now covering her entire back. The set of wings left no empty space which made Namine realize the marking was finally complete. It was a set of wings with 52 feathers, 26 on each side.

The marking began to glow and she felt as if her arm was on fire. When the pain had spread throughout her entire body, Namine began to scream, attracting the attention of every person inside the castle. "It burns." Namine whimpered. Kairi rushed to her sister's side, violently shaking her shoulders to snap Namine out of whatever was happening to her. "Namine, what's wrong?" Kairi exclaimed. What was wrong? What was happening? Namine had no idea.

 _"Never forget Namine. You belong to me now."_

Those words rang through her head once again. Namine understood it now. It was him. He was finally coming back for her.

Just then, a portal opened in midair and hand came out first, following that an arm and then finally the rest of the body. It was him. Namine's eyes widened. He still wore the same cloak from that night.

"You've grown stronger, Cursed One."

The townspeople gasped, hearing the name that was long forgotten during their years of peace. "What do you want from me?" Namine exclaimed, not able to focus on him due to the excruciating pain. The man chuckled at what he thought was a silly question. "I want you to activate your powers. Activate your powers so that my wish will finally be granted!"

Namine shook her head, "Even if I did know what you were talking about, why would I ever help you? You're the one who killed my parents!" The soldiers took up their weapons. Although there was no proof to back up the princess's accusation, they had no doubt that this man was certainly malicious. "Tell them to put down their weapons or I will kill every person in this castle." After a slight hesitation, Namine waved her hand, signaling to the soldiers to stand down.

"Yes, I did kill them. And I certainly don't regret it. If I hadn't, I would not have been able to come find you today. They might have even found a way to destroy me by now. I couldn't allow that to happen, so I took measures into my own hands." Namine became angered at this, pushing Kairi away from her and grabbing one of the soldiers spears. "I'll make you pay!" She screamed, charging at him.

"I've grown impatient. Activate your powers, Cursed One!"

Just as the spear was merely inches from his face, Namine found that she could no longer move. In fact, she no longer had control over her body.

Kairi, who was watching all of this unfold, tried to reach for her twin as she floated into the air. A pair of black wings appeared on her back and her eyes were no longer their beautiful sapphire, now taking on a soft lilac color. Kairi was so confused. How did Namine know so much about her parents' death when she knew next to nothing? How long had Namine known? Why had she never told her?

Most importantly, what was happening to Namine?

Kairi quickly realized that her sister was no longer in control of her body and knew she had to do something.

The cloaked man began to laugh, "My wish will finally be granted! Cursed One, fulfill your duty of merging the worlds together. Create one world, one constant time! "

Kairi stood up, feeling something inside grow. She felt a surge of power coursing through her veins, but she had no idea what it was. What was all this talk about worlds and time? She only knew of one world and that was the one she called her home, Twilight Town.

"You're a fool! Even if there are worlds outside of this one, they're separate for a reason, right? Merging them all together seems like it'll cause only destruction." The cloaked man looked up to stare at Namine, whose hand was above her head and ball of dark aura was above that. It only seemed to be growing larger, Kairi realized. There was little time.

"I don't care about the rest of the world." The man whispered, "I only care about-"

He was cut off when the castle began to shake violently. The townspeople were now in a panic and tried to get out of there. The guards were in a panic over not being able to get closer to the princess and the intruder. Kairi was panicking over not being able to get her sister back to her normal state.

The man grinned, "There's no point in trying to stop me now. It's too late."

The dark aura ball was now considerably large. Kairi looked around as the aura spread around the castle, destroying it bit by bit. Where the aura would destroy a piece of the wall, a world appeared there. Soon enough Twilight Castle would be covered in different worlds. Soon enough these strange new worlds would destroy her own.

The power inside Kairi finally reached its peak. "That's enough!" She boomed, and as she did, a blinding flash surrounded the castle. Even the cloaked man had to cover his eyes. When he could refocus his eyes, he smirked at the scene before him.

Kairi now bore a pair of bright white wings, in contrast to her sisters. Her eyes remained the same color but a bright white aura now surrounded her.

The man smirked, "So the Princess of Heart finally shows her true magic. Well you're too late. It's already started, there's no turning back now." Kairi smirked at him, "Really? Well maybe you should take a look around." The man looked around, and soon realized time had stopped completely. The worlds had stopped merging, the people had stopped moving, even Namine was frozen in place. He looked at Kairi in horror although Kairi couldn't see his expression, "How? How does your magic exceed mine?" Kairi looked at her wings and the aura surrounding her. Even she was confused.

"No matter." He sighed, drawing his sword. "I'll just kill you myself. That will resume time."

"You will not." A new voice, gentle yet firm, spoke up. Kairi was surprised, yet relieved to see the high priestess of Twilight Town, Aerith Gainsborough.

"What are you doing here?" The man and Kairi asked in unison. Kairi eyed the man, wondering if he knew her.

Aerith only shook her head, "I should have known this was going to happen. After all, she did warn me." The man tensed, tightening his grip on his blade. Kairi thought about this, wondering who this 'she' was that both Cloud and Aerith seemed to know. "I remained in the temple to try and keep the protective barrier on the castle strong but once I had realized that you broke through it, I rushed over here as fast as I could. It seems I was too late." Aerith turned toward Kairi, "Quickly! Take Namine!" Aerith shot a spell at the man to immobilize him as he also tried to grab Namine, still frozen from the stoppage of time.

Kairi used her wings to fly to Namine, taking her from the air and landing back on the ground. As soon as Kairi had moved her, the dark aura above her disappeared and her wings broke apart from her, turning into feathers and disappearing from their world. Kairi had no time to worry about that now.

Aerith turned back to Kairi once she had landed on the ground, "I'm going to take you to a world different from this one. There resides a powerful witch, a close friend of mine. She will be able to help you. She already knows what has happened." Aeirth muttered a few words and a magic circle appeared below Kairi's feet, pulling her into the ground.

"What's happening Aerith? What happened to Namine?"

"There is no time to explain. She will be able to answer your questions." Aerith whispered, closing her eyes, "I wish you good luck on your travels."

As Kairi was nearly completely pulled in, she realized something. "Wait Aerith! What are you going to do when the spell wears off him?" Aerith turned her back towards Kairi and raised her staff in front of her, preparing for when the man unfroze.

"Aerith, no! He'll kill you!"

"Goodbye Princess."

Before Kairi could say anything else, her and Namine had disappeared completely into the ground. She didn't know what was happening, she only knew that her body was being pulled forward, hopefully to wherever Aerith intended.

"Aerith..." Kairi whispered.

Kairi had no chance to mourn over the high priestess as she landed in her destination. It was raining heavily, she noticed as she pulled Namine closer to her to protect the unconscious girl from the rain.

She looked to her side to see two boys, one with spiky brown hair and another with messy blonde hair staring back at her. Where was she? They turned away from each other and toward the woman who stepped out of her house to greet them. "I've been waiting for you." Waiting for them? Had Aerith informed her of their coming? "Introduce yourselves please."

The brunette spoke up first, "My name is Sora and this is my brother Roxas. We were sent here because we heard that you have the power to grant wishes." The woman nodded, "You have heard correctly. However, there is a limit to what I can grant. Of course, for every wish, a price must be paid. And how about you, girl?"

Kairi held her head high. She was so used to being addressed 'Princess' that now being called 'Girl' felt strange. But that didn't matter right now. "My name is Kairi and this is my twin sister Namine. The High Priestess of our home has sent us here because she said you could help me. Please tell me what has happened to her! Please tell me how to save her life!"

The woman walked towards Namine's unconscious form and placed her hand on her forehead. "I see. The wings that were on her back, did you see what happened to them?"

"Yes. When I moved her to bring her back down to the ground, they split into many different feathers and disappeared. I didn't think much of it at the time."

"Those were not normal wings. They were a manifestation of her heart. Without them, she will die."


	5. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4: The Price to Pay**_

Kairi's eyes widened, "What do you mean she'll die? Those wings only just appeared today! All this time she's been fine without them!" The woman shook her head, "They may have only physically appeared today, however they have always been with her. No one, not even the girl herself, was able to see her wings because her power was still growing. She didn't know of the destruction she was fated to cause."

Kairi shook her head, "None of that matters anymore! How can I save her life?"

Roxas cleared his throat, "Enough with the drama, lady. Tell us who you are."

The woman chuckled, "Ah yes, how rude of me. My name is Tifa. I'm a witch who has the power to grant people's wishes. Now Kairi," Tifa turned towards her, "You wish to save your sister's life. Sora and Roxas, what are your wishes?" Sora decided to be the one to speak, "We are on the run. We wish to be able to travel to different worlds in order to escape the man chasing after us." Kairi noted that Sora seemed like the more talkative one, while Roxas was the silent type. Just like Namine and herself.

Tifa eyed them carefully, "Well of course, Purebloods are very rare and your blood is extremely powerful." The boys tensed, not realizing that Tifa knew what they were. Tifa chuckled at their surprise, "I'm a dimensional witch who grants wishes. Did you honestly think I didn't know what you guys were?" Kairi looked back and forth between them, not understanding what they were saying. 'What else is new?' Kairi thought to herself, 'It seems there are a lot of things I don't know about.'

"Your wishes may be different but they follow the same path. Kairi, you wish to find the pieces of that girl's shattered heart, which now reside in different worlds. Sora and Roxas, you wish to escape from the man chasing after you. You all wish to travel. However, to be able to travel between worlds requires a great price."

"Price?" Sora asked.

"Yes, a price. The price depends on the wish. Since this is a great wish, the price must be great as well. Sora and Roxas, the price shall be your weapons." Sora's eyes widened, "You would take Ultima Weapon? There's no way!" In unison, Roxas exclaimed, "Oblivion and Oathkeeper are a part of me, I will not allow you to take them!"

Tifa chuckled, "I'm not taking them. You're giving them to me. Besides, if you don't want to, you can simply leave and find another way to get out of this world before he comes after you two." There was a silence before they held out their weapons. Tifa chuckled and then used her magic to bring them over to her. She turned toward Kairi next. "Now Kairi. Your price will be that girl."

Kairi looked between her unconscious sister and the dimensional witch, "I'm sorry. I don't understand."

"You are now aware of your title as the Princess of Heart and Namine being the Cursed One correct?" Tifa continued when Kairi nodded, "The fate of these two is that one must kill the other. It is believed to be only legend but it is in fact, not. It may not be soon, but I promise you, should you go on this journey you will be faced with this choice. That, Kairi, will be your price."

"Hold on," Roxas spoke, "Why does she not have to give up anything?" Sora elbowed his brother to shut him up but it didn't work.

"Should she leave her sister in this state, she will die and Kairi can continue living. Not only that, but her home would be returned to normal." Kairi tensed, remembering the state Twilight Town was left in before she left. "Or she could choose to embark on this journey, find what she needs to awaken her sister, and then make the choice between her life or Namine's. That is her price to pay. It is not easy to choose between your life and a loved one, no matter how much you love them."

"So pretty much," Kairi spoke up, "Going on this journey to save my sister might end up killing her. What kind of coincidence is that?"

"There is no such thing as coincidence, only inevitability." Tifa said seriously.

All three of them looked up at her, taking her words into consideration.

"It was no coincidence that you all ended up here." The three of them tensed, "Your fates were connected from the beginning. Everything that happened to you led you to this point. I will warn you that it only gets harder from here."

"Alright witch" Roxas sighed. He seemed uninterested in all of this. "I don't believe in destiny. The girl clearly agrees with the price so can you just get us out of here?"

Sora nudged his brother, "Excuse his rudeness, Tifa." Sora turned to Kairi, "Do you agree to her price?" Kairi looked at him briefly before turning to Tifa, "I do."

Tifa only nodded her head, "Then here is your way of travel." With a wave of her hand, a humongous airship appeared behind them. "This is called a gummy ship. It has the power to take you between dimensions and through time itself. This airship will be attracted to powerful magic sources which is how it will determine what world you will go to next. Be warned, it can be any magic source, not necessarily what you are looking for."

Roxas yawned, "Whatever. Can we please leave now?" He asked, clearly bored. He left his brother who was glaring at him, as he made his way towards the ship. Sora walked to Kairi, offering to help her up. She took his hand and helped herself up, still holding onto her sister.

"Would you like me to hold her?" Kairi shook her head, not wanting to let her sister go. Sora nodded, "I understand. Let us be off now." They bid Tifa farewell before entering the ship. As soon as they were all inside, the ship disappeared, taking them to their next destination.

Tifa watched as the ship took off, "The fate of the world now rests in your hands, children. It is time for this dream to end."


	6. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5: Error**_

Kairi was the last to wake up, if you don't count Namine who was still unconscious. She looked around and realized she was no longer at Tifa's residence or even Twilight Town. She looked around and saw both boys looking at her. She remembered they were there with her back then and that they were now embarked on this journey together.

"I know we were already introduced there, but I'm Kairi. I'm the princess of Twilight Town, but I guess that doesn't matter anymore." She held out her hand for either of the boys to take it. Roxas stood up and stretched, "I'm Roxas and I'm very hungry." He said, walking right past Kairi. Kairi watched him walk away, already knowing she was going to dread this journey if she had to travel with him.

"Excuse his behavior." Sora said, walking to Kairi and taking her hand. Kairi shook her head, "At least you're nice." Maybe it won't be so bad.

"Since we've already introduced ourselves, tell me about yourself Kairi." Kairi tried to get up but carrying Namine was finally weighing her down and she was too tired to carry her anymore. Sora held out his arms, "Allow me." This time, Kairi allowed him to carry Namine and gently placed her in his arms.

"Where's our ship?" Kairi wondered.

"I think it flies us to our destination and just kind of teleports us inside. I guess Tifa figured we would attract too much attention if a giant airship were just to land in a world so suddenly." Kairi chuckled at this.

Kairi and Sora began walking in attempt to find people who can tell them about this world. And to find Roxas.

"So where do I begin?" Kairi wondered. Sora shrugged, "What led you to Tifa?" Kairi wasn't sure if she should trust Sora, but she figured they would be traveling together for quite some time. Might as well start now.

"To be completely honest, I don't know everything myself. It all happened at our eighteenth birthday party. This cloaked man came and said something to Namine. Something took over her and she started merging a bunch of different worlds into our own, which was what this guy wanted for some reason. Something about creating one world and one timeline? Honestly, I have no idea. Then I did some cool light show and stopped time and the high priestess of our home sent me to Tifa."

Sora stared in amazement, "Wow."

Kairi nodded, "I know right."

Sora stopped walking suddenly, "You said a cloaked man right? Was it a black cloak with a set of red wings on the back?" Kairi shook her head, "I didn't really pay much attention to the details. If I see him again though, I would know." Sora started walking again, "You always have to pay attention to the details Kairi. Especially now, always be wary of your surroundings. You never know what can sneak up on you."

"How about a powerful old wizard?"

Sora and Kairi both screamed and jumped forward to see who was behind only to find an old man with a blue wizard hat and a long gray beard. Who was he? And why was there a tied up Roxas next to him?

Wait. A tied up Roxas?

Sora's eyes turned yellow and his fingernails extended into long claws, "Let my brother go and I'll let you live, old man." He growled, extending his long claws toward the 'powerful old wizard'. Kairi could only stare at this sudden transformation in shock.

"Take him, I'm tired of his constant complaining." Sora chuckled, as he returned to normal. "Wow Roxas, you're so annoying even your kidnapper doesn't want you." The ropes unwound themselves from Roxas, making Kairi wonder what power this wizard had. "I don't complain." Roxas tried to defend himself.

"Where are we?" Sora asked.

"You all landed in Hollow Bastion. It is a city plagued by the Heartless. I assume you are looking for the feathers that left that girl's body, correct?" Kairi was about to ask what the Heartless were until she heard the second part of that sentence. "You know about that? Please tell me everything you know! There is so much I still don't understand! Do you have any feathers?"

"I am Merlin, the all powerful wizard. I sensed these feathers as soon as they entered our world. One came directly to me, and there are four others scattered around here somewhere. I was on my way to look for them when I saw that blonde headed imbecile causing a ruckus in the town." Sora elbowed Roxas, which was his way of calling Roxas an idiot.

"Please give me the feather you have! I'll do anything. I don't have any money with me but-"

Merlin laughed, "Oh I don't want anything. These feathers don't belong in this world and I'd rather get them out of here before the wrong person stumbles across them. Come with me, I will explain as I take you to where the feather is." Kairi took Namine from Sora's arms and eagerly followed Merlin.

Merlin turned to Sora, "There is another feather in the building behind you. A wise man named Ansem has a study room in there." Roxas shrugged, "This feather business has nothing to do with us." Sora shook his head in disappointment, and was about to say he would be happy to look for the feather when Merlin spoke up.

"There is a computer in there. It has the power to tell you about anything you would like to know."

"Like what I'm going to eat for dinner?" Roxas joked.

"No, but it will tell you about the man whom you both are running from."

There was a long pause between both boys as they just stared at each other. Roxas spoke up, "We'll go." Kairi was surprised he was serious for once. Since she met him, he was either annoyed or annoying. Kairi didn't understand because Sora never got around to explaining how he and Roxas ended up at Tifa's, but she shrugged it off for now. There were more important things involving her right now. Sora's past could wait. She also made a mental note to ask him about his little 'transformation' later.

Merlin waited until Sora and Roxas had went inside the building before taking Kairi's hand, "I will teleport us there."

Kairi took his hand, "The faster, the better. What is that cavern over there?"

Merlin followed her gaze, "Ah that is the Cavern of Remembrance. It's been around since the beginning of Hollow Bastion but it was always covered by the wall. Recently that wall blew up and revealed the cave, however it doesn't allow anyone inside." Bright lights began to surround the two and they began to disappear. Kairi assumed this was Merlin's teleporting magic.

"Do you think there are feathers in there?" Merlin nodded, "There are. Two, in fact. But with no way to get inside, there is no way to retrieve them."

Kairi decided to drop the subject as she realized her surroundings changed and she was now in a house. "Give me a moment, I will go get the feather." Kairi nodded watching Merlin walk off. She gently placed Namine down on the bed and watched her sleep.

Namine was still so cold, maybe even colder than she was before. Kairi was praying that Merlin was not fooling her and really did have a feather. Kairi was afraid Namine would not be able to last much longer. "I need you to wake up Namine. I can't do this all by myself. You're the stronger one out of the two of us, physically and emotionally. Please don't die on me."

"Here it is." Merlin handed it to her. It was a black feather with a design of crimson wings surrounding an oxblood colored heart on it. It looked almost eerie. Sensing Kairi's hesitation, Merlin assured her, "This is certainly Namine's feather. The color of her wings was black so naturally the feathers would be as well. The feather mirrors her power, which cause destruction."

Kairi nodded. As tired as she was of hearing everyone comparing her sister to Destruction and curses, she was beginning to realize the truth in these words. She had seen it herself, so she couldn't deny the facts. But that would not change her resolve to save her.

Merlin held the feather above Namine's chest and let go. Instead of falling like an ordinary object would, it instead was absorbed into Namine's chest. Kairi placed her hand on Namine's cheek, relieved to finally feel a little warmth.

"Will she finally wake up?" Kairi asked, hopeful.

Merlin shook his head, "I cannot say for certain. She may need more feathers. Kairi, I must ask you something." Kairi nodded, and he took that as a sign to continue, "You do realize what this journey will lead too, correct? You will be playing into that man's hands, giving him exactly what he wants."

Kairi held her head high, "I know. I know her power is what he needs to grant whatever wish he has and when her feathers left her, his plan was ruined. I know by me getting these feathers for her, I'll be helping him. But I can't just let my sister die!"

"You were able to freeze Twilight Town because of your desperation to save it. That will not be able to be your solution should you acquire all of her feathers."

"How is Twilight Town right now?" Kairi knew freezing time wouldn't be the solution should all that repeat itself. That would be too easy. She was hoping that she would figure out her plan of action during their journey or at least when Namine wakes up. "It is still frozen. You are very powerful, Princess of Heart. It will remain frozen until you return there and unfreeze it yourself. You should know that there were consequences for messing with the flow of time. But I'm afraid I cannot tell you. You will have to discover it for yourself."

Kairi nodded. Normally she would have an attitude and demand to know what he was keeping from her, but now she was too tired. The recent events had begun to take its toll on her and she could barely stand up straight anymore. Merlin saw this and decided to end their chat. "Rest now. You have a long journey ahead of you. I will go check on the boys. I will allow you to sleep in my house for the night."

...

"Type in Purebloods." Sora demanded of Roxas. Roxas did and a page of information showed. Sora nodded, "So this computer is accurate at least, not a bunch of made up shit. Look up Kairi."

Roxas did, and froze when two options showed up. "Wait, what the hell is this?" Sora looked confused, "Why are there are two Kairi's? Type in Namine." When Roxas pressed enter, only one option showed up. Sora and Roxas looked at each other. Roxas shrugged, "Maybe this is a dud. Let's get out of here."

Sora didn't move. "Look up _his_ name." Roxas looked at Sora for a long time before moving, and slowly pressing the keys to enter that man's name. "I don't even want to say it aloud." Roxas whispered, too afraid to even speak of him. With a gulp, Roxas pressed enter.

ERROR!

Sora looked confused for a moment and decided that Roxas pressed the wrong key. He typed in the name again and pressed enter.

ERROR!

This was one of the few times in his life where Sora would get angry. It wasn't enough that this guy was chasing after them but now they couldn't even get a tiny bit of information on him. "Stupid computer!" Sora exclaimed. His eyes turned yellow and his nails into claws, just like before. In a rush of anger, he dug his hand into the screen, resulting in a huge hole right in the middle of the screen. The computer made a hissing sort of sound and then smoke started coming out of the hole.

Roxas looked between Sora and the hole, laughing nervously, "I don't think you should have done that Sora."

"You should not have. This world relies on that computer. It acts as our security system against the Heartless that threaten our very lives. It was also a sort of sealing device to one particularly powerful heartless that once threatened our entire town. You have just doomed our town." Sora and Roxas turned around to see Merlin giving them a disapproving look.

Sora's eyes widened and he looked down in shame. He wasn't sure how a computer could keep an entire town safe but he was aware that he destroyed something that didn't belong to him. "I apologize. I acted on my anger and did something I should not have. I will do what I can to repay you."

Merlin thought about and suddenly an idea came to him, "Well there is one thing, but that can wait until tomorrow. The two girls are at my house sleeping, you two may also stay there for the night. And look," he pointed to the hole in the screen, "I guess it wasn't a bad thing that you did that. Although there were probably less violent measures of getting it."

Sora and Roxas followed his gaze and saw a feather where the hole was. Roxas eyed it for a while, "You sure that's it? It looks kind of eerie."

Merlin sighed, not wanting to explain it all over again, "It resembles her power. Kairi will explain. I will teleport you to where the girls are and you can give it to her yourself."

Before they could ask what he meant, they saw that their surroundings changed and they were now in front of a sleeping Namine and a surprised Kairi. "A feather!" She squealed. "How did you get it?"

Sora and Roxas looked at each other, "We'll tell you but you have to tell us what Merlin told you." Kairi nodded furiously, snatching the feather from Sora's hand and holding it above Namine. Just as earlier, as soon as she let it go, it was absorbed into Namine's chest.

The rest of the night consisted of them telling each other of their findings for that day. Sora had explained to Kairi to make up for his mistake, he would have to do whatever Merlin was going to tell him tomorrow. Kairi nodded and said she would be happy to help him. Roxas complained about how tired he was and they all fell into a deep sleep. Nothing could wake them at this point.

Not even the sound of Namine waking up.

"Feather." Namine whispered. "I sense... my feather." She got up and left the rest of the group, heading to where her feather was located.


	7. Chapter 6

**Guys I've had so many chapters of this story finished and ready to upload for years and just left them there. Please hate me. Also, I've revamped and changed the previous chapters so go check it out! You probably should anyway since it's been almost two years.**

 **I'm so sorry.**

 **This chapter went up to eleven pages on Word. Just thought I'd put that out there. I was going to split it up into two chapters but when I tried, it didn't have the same feel to it. Oh well.**

 **Hope you enjoy and please don't forget to leave a review! :)**

 _ **..**_

 _ **Chapter 6: Heartless**_

"WHERE IS NAMINE!?" Kairi exclaimed so loud, probably all Hollow Bastion had heard. Sora and Roxas had to cover their ears, "We don't know. We were sleeping too."

Kairi was panicking and wasn't thinking properly. Sora was counting how many times she had checked under the bed and currently he had counted fifteen times.

"Do you guys think she's under the bed?" Kairi asked, checking under the bed.

Make that sixteen.

"No for the sixteenth time." Roxas sighed. Seeing Kairi like this was draining his energy. "Well we're not going to find her sitting on our asses or in your case, repeatedly checking under the bed. Hollow Bastion can't be that huge, lets split up and look for her."

.

Roxas said he would look in the postern area and the building where Ansem did his research. He figured he was there yesterday so he should remember it well. After finding himself in Ansem's study for the umpteenth time, he got aggravated and decided to take a break. "How could one girl be this hard to find?" He wondered aloud as he sat down near the keyboard, accidently sitting on a button. Freaking out, he jumped back to see if further damage was caused to the computer. But then he turned when he heard a door opening. The wall held a secret door which led into a secret room.

"A secret room within a secret room? What's this Ansem guy got to hide?"

He went into the room and saw it was some type of factory looking place. Strange black creatures were being created and sent out into the town. Hundreds of them. "Heartless?" Roxas wondered aloud. They were different from the ones in his world, but they were definitely heartless. "How am I going to fight them without my keyblades?" He didn't have time to decide because a large one appeared behind him and grabbed him.

...

Sora searched the entire town, questioning anyone if they had seen her. Sora was beginning to wonder if she was even still in this world. He decided to take a break, wondering if there was an area he didn't search. Sora's mind began to wander. How did he and Roxas get to this point?

They were running away from the man who was after their blood. Each Pureblood has power over one of the four elements in the world. Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. Sora had Fire and Roxas had Water. "Father had Earth and Ventus had air, but now-" Sora was cut off from his thoughts by the screams of the townspeople. Sora looked up and saw a huge creature towering over the town. What was that thing?

Sora noticed it was holding something in its hand. Closer inspection made Sora realize it wasn't something, it was someone.

"Roxas! Shit, I have to do something. Ultima Weapon!" Sora tried to summon his weapon and was surprised when it didn't come to him. He stared at his empty hand and remembered Tifa. Realizing he had no weapon, he looked back up that creature.

"What am I supposed to do now?"

...

Kairi had quickly realized that searching by herself was going nowhere and sought out Merlin. Not sure where to check, she ran back to where she first met him. Seeing a woman walking by, Kairi stopped. "Hi!" Kairi was panting, "Have you seen Merlin?" The woman nodded, "Yes, he is at the Postern."

Kairi bowed slightly, "Thank you!" Realizing she didn't know where the Postern was, she turned around to ask but the woman was gone. In the distance, she saw the Cavern that she had asked Merlin about and decided to go there.

As Kairi got closer, she was relieved to see Merlin there.

"Merlin! Have you seen Namine?"

"She is not with you? Then it all makes sense." Kairi looked at him, her eyes full of question. Merlin cleared his throat, "A little while ago, I sensed a powerful presence enter this cavern. I would check for myself except I still can't enter."

Kairi stepped forward, "Do you think I can?"

"I wouldn't kn-"

A loud sound coming from the town interrupted Merlin, followed by constant screaming. "Oh no, has it started already. I'm sorry Kairi, I cannot stay."

"Wait," Kairi stopped him, "I want to help too! You've so kind to me and I want to help you."

"But your-"

"If it won't allow me to go inside, there's no point of me staying here while you all fight whatever is over there. I want to be useful. Besides I have a feeling Namine will be fine. Please let me go with you!"

Merlin nodded and teleported them both to the town.

...

"Why have you come here?"  
Namine wandered around aimlessly, unsure of where to go. She wasn't even sure if she was truly awake. "I don't know." She wondered aloud, "When I woke up, I was here. I don't mean to trespass, but there is something that belongs to me in here."

"What?"

"My feather." Namine didn't know the importance of the feather, she just knew that she needed it.

"Why should we help the Cursed One? We would be helping you bring ruin the worlds."

'Cursed One.' Her memories of the party were hazy but she knew that something bad had happened. She could only remember the cloaked man and then something taking over her. After that, everything was a blur. But after waking up in a new world, she had thought that it was all a dream. Maybe she was still imagining things at this current moment. What was reality and what was a dream? Namine wasn't sure she knew the difference anymore.

What was even talking to her right now? All she heard were voices. There were no actual people here.

"Who are you?"

"We are spirits who protect this cavern. The fact that you can cross the barrier means that something inside of here belongs to you. However, we cannot just give it to you. You must prove yourself." Namine wondered what else was in the cavern that was so valuable.

A girl with black hair materialized in front of her, "What do you want out of life?" Namine thought of her answer carefully, "I want to be strong." The girl stared her down, "Tell me why strength is so important to you."

"If I'm not strong, I can't protect the ones I love. My lack of strength is what prevented me from helping my parents that day. Because I couldn't fight, I couldn't protect my mother. Because I wasn't strong enough, I couldn't prevent myself from being cursed. Everything that happened to my home is because of my curse and I want to become strong to find a way to be rid of it."

The girl twirled around before leaping right in front of Namine. "I like your answer, so I'll let you have this." She held up her right hand and a feather materialized, then was absorbed into Namine. "Do you feel yourself getting stronger?" The girl asked.

"I do, but I also feel my power growing stronger. I'm afraid of what will happen when I get all of my feathers back."

"So why do you bother?" Another voice, much deeper than the woman, was heard, and this time a brunette man materialized. Namine kept a strong gaze on him, "Because I know I will die without them. When they had left me, I could feel myself growing weaker. If I wish to grow stronger, I need to be able to live to see that wish through."

"Alright, now my question. What is most important to you?"

"My sister." Namine said without hesitation, "My kingdom as well, but mostly my sister. I would do anything to protect her."

"Even die?"

"If it came to that."

"Squall." The woman silenced him as he opened his mouth to speak. "What Rinoa?" He asked, rolling his eyes. "Alright whatever. Take your stupid feather, you pass the test." He did the same as Rinoa, except instead of leaping to her, he simply pushed the feather in her direction. Namine closed her eyes, allowing it to be absorbed into her body.

"We're giving these to you because we need you to fulfill a task for us."

Namine looked at Squall with confusion. He shook his head, "Don't worry about it now, you aren't strong enough. There will be a day when you come back here and then we'll let you know. Now get out of here, your friends need you." Before Namine could say anything else, Squall and Rinoa teleported her out of the cavern.

.

While Sora was doing some damage with his fire magic, it wasn't enough. He needed to be able to slice and dice it, and going in with his claws seemed to risky. Roxas landed next to him, failing to do any lethal damage to the being. Sora had burned the creature's arm off to free his brother.

"It's definitely a heartless. Can you believe that? I thought heartless were only in our world." Roxas exclaimed, amazed at the Heartless. "Especially one that big. I've only seen the small fry in our world."

"Maybe they're afraid of vampires." Sora joked. Both jumped away when they saw the heartless' other hand trying to smash them. "Without our keyblades, we can't do anything. Damn that witch for taking our weapons." Sora shrugged, "We can't do anything about that now. How should we go about this?"

"Can we help?" Kairi asked, her and Merlin appearing behind the boys. "Sure, if you can damage it. We've been at this for who knows how long." Roxas shrugged. 'Twenty minutes.' Sora thought to himself.

"Regular magic won't do much damage to a heartless this large. Kairi, you are the Princess of Heart. Your heart alone is the reason why you have never seen a heartless in your world. Your light overpowers their darkness." Kairi nodded, "I'll see what I can do." She focused on her power, but was interrupted when the heartless tried to attack her. "I can't focus with it attacking me!" Roxas attempted to freeze it with his ice magic, but it quickly broke free. "Why is it so powerful?"

"I am sensing the girls feather around here." Merlin stated, "I wonder if the heartless absorbed it. If it did, it would explain its power surge." Roxas stared at the Heartless in wonder, "That girl's feather really has this much power?" If only one feather had this much power, Roxas wondered just how powerful Namine would be once she acquired all of them.

"Move aside." They turned at the new voice, "That feather is mine." They all turned to see Namine standing there.

"Namine!" Kairi exclaimed. Namine smiled at her, "I would love to have a sisterly reunion with you, but now really isn't the time." Kairi nodded and both turned to the giant heartless. "I'm going to use my light magic to counter its darkness." Namine nodded, "I'll distract it. I don't have my full power yet, but I can do this." Namine held up her left hand and used her right hand to pull something out of it."

"A keyblade!?" Roxas and Sora exclaimed. "I thought that was only in our world!"

Namine shrugged, "I don't know what that means, but can this oversized key defeat that thing?" All attempts to seem cool aside, she honestly had no idea how she could do that. Something inside of her told her to do it, so she did. "Yeah. That's the only thing that can kill one." She nodded and turned to the boys, "Now are you guys going to help me beat this thing up?" Sora and Roxas nodded furiously. They may not have had weapons like Namine, but they had powerful magic, and they were going to assist her as much as they could.

...

"Roxas! Freeze his hand, I'm going to shatter it into pieces!" Roxas cringed at her eagerness but followed her directions. Namine leapt up in the air and using the momentum to her advantage, brought her sword up and struck the ice. The force, power of the blow, and her magic shattered the heartless' hand into a million pieces. The Heartless cried out in what they assumed was pain and tried to attack Namine. Sora saw that coming and attacked it with his fire.

"Kairi doesn't seem like she's anywhere close to ready. What are we going to do?" Sora cried out in frustration. Although they had taken out both of its hands, they were getting tired. Roxas turned to Kairi, "Not to rush you or anything, but can you please hurry up?" He called out. He regretted that though because the heartless took advantage of this distraction and hit him with his arm, which made Roxas go flying.

"Idiot." Sora and Namine said in unison.

"Sora." Sora turned to Namine, "I sense my feather in its chest. I'm going to grab it." Sora stared at her, mouth agape, "How?"

"Like this!" When the heartless tried to step on Namine, she jumped out of the way but landed on his foot. From the foot, she jumped onto its arm. When it tried to flail its arm around mindlessly to get her off from it, Namine jumped again and dug her sword into its chest to get a good grip.

"Sora! Blast him!"

"What if I hit you?"

Namine shook her head, "You won't! I need his attention off me for a minute. Just do it!" Sora nodded, carefully aiming his hand in the direction of the Heartless' face and shot fire. 'Score!' Sora cheered himself on. Namine used this distraction to pull her sword out of its chest and instead dug her arm in there.

It was then Roxas opened his eyes. He felt as if he was about to pass out again when he saw Namine dig her arm into the Heartless' chest. "Namine WHAT are you doing!?" Namine didn't turn to him, too focused on her task at hand, "I'm getting my feather back. You would know if you didn't decide to take a nap in the middle of a battle. Sora, keep blasting him! The heartless doesn't know which one of us to attack."

"I wasn't napping, I was knocked out! Sora, defend me here." Sora only glanced at him briefly before turning his focus back to the heartless. "Kind of busy here."

Roxas looked between the two helplessly, "Well... you two need help?"

"No!" Roxas sighed, dejected. He already didn't like Namine.

"Got it!" Namine exclaimed.

"I'm ready!" Kairi shouted. 'Took you long enough.' Sora thought to himself. Sora turned to Kairi, surprised to see her now donning a pair of white wings on her back.

Namine pulled her arm out if its chest, "Do it!"

Kairi closed her eyes, bright lights surrounding her. Extending her hands in front of her, she took a deep breath and released the energy inside of her. A bright light engulfed the town, so bright that everyone had to close their eyes.

When all the lights had faded, Kairi opened her eyes and looked where the heartless once stood. All that was left was... blood? "Heartless don't bleed." Sora thought out loud. Kairi soon realized that blood did not belong to the heartless. In the middle of the pool of blood, she saw her twin, weakly smiling at her.

"I guess your magic... doesn't affect just the heartless." Namine breathed out before fainting.


	8. Chapter 7

Guys I've had so many chapters of this story finished and ready to upload for years and just left them there. Please hate me. Also, I've revamped and changed the previous chapters so go check it out! You probably should anyway since it's been almost two years.

I'm so sorry.

Hope you enjoy the chapter and please don't forget to review!

...

Chapter 7: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Kairi was pacing around inside of Merlin's house with Sora and Roxas watching her and Namine asleep on the only bed in the room.

"This looks familiar." Roxas joked, but made sure to whisper so Kairi wouldn't hear him. Sora only chuckled.

Kairi stopped pacing to sit next to her sister, "I did this to her. Last time it was that stupid man but this time it was my fault! I didn't know what I was even doing. I just kept trying to focus and eventually I felt some sort of magic building up inside of me! I never would have done it if I knew it was so dangerous! How is she hurt and none of us are?" Kairi looked helplessly at Namine.

Namine's entire torso and forehead was bandaged and there was a medium sized bandaged on her left cheek. Kairi shivered at the memory of how many cuts were on Namine's body. There were so many deep gashes, Kairi knew they would never heal. "All of these scars will remain on her body and it'll be all my fault." Kairi whispered, tears brimming her eyes, "She'll never forgive me."

Sora couldn't stand to see a lady cry so he went to Kairi and embraced her. "I may not know Namine like you do but from what I've seen, she's a tough girl. I doubt scars are going to make her hate you. A true warrior wears her scars with pride." Kairi looked up at him, wondering if there was truth to his words. She looked at Namine and then back to Sora. Sora gave her a toothy grin, "Besides, scars heal."

Roxas stood up, "I doubt she'll be any less hot with a few scars." Both Kairi and Sora looked at him with raised eyebrows. Roxas blushed, realizing what exactly he said, "Uh, I mean, well- ah I didn't mean that. I mean I did but-"

Sora shook his head, "You're an idiot." Roxas nodded his head and quickly sat back down. Sora turned back to Kairi who was looking at his chest with a slight blush. Wondering why she was so flustered, he looked between them and suddenly realized how close they were to each other. At the same time, they quickly let go of each other and took a few steps back. "I'm sorry!" They both said at once, trying to hide their embarrassment.

"Idiots." Roxas muttered.

At the same time, Merlin had walked in. The moment was forgotten and the air around them was full of tension.

"Is my sister going to be okay?" Kairi asked after a long silence. Merlin had come back with a tray full of tea and began serving it to them.

"She will be. I did what I could however it still wasn't enough. The rest of the healing will have to be done by herself. A lot of rest and no fighting for a while and she will recover within a month or two."

Roxas' eyes widened, "A month? We can't stay here that long!" Kairi glared at him for being so loud. Namine stirred slightly.

"Don't give me that look Kairi. You need those feather things and Sora and I can't stay in a world for too long." Sora glared at his brother for being so selfish, "You don't give me that look either! You know it too. Our wish was to escape and we can't do that if we're sitting on our asses." Kairi marched over to Roxas and raised her fist to punch him, "How dare you be so selfish? Why do you only care about running away?"

"To save my brother." Kairi just stared at him, her fist frozen in mid air. "Just like you would do anything to save your sister, I would do anything to save Sora. We can't fight the man we're running from, so that's why we're here. We're trying to escape. I get that you want to save Namine and if you need to wait a month or two, that's on you. But Sora and I can't wait that long. We can't risk him finding us."

"You don't have to worry about staying here for that long." Kairi and Roxas turned to see Sora supporting a now awake Namine, "We aren't going to stay here for a month or two. I don't sense any more of my feathers here, so there's no point in staying." Namine turned to Merlin, "I thank you for healing me and for letting us stay in your home."

Kairi was shaking her head, "You need to rest Namine!" Namine glared at Kairi, her eyes full of ice. It made Kairi shrink back a little. Namine always had such a powerful aura around her, it sometimes intimidated Kairi. "I need my feathers. The more I get, the more powerful I become." Kairi opened her mouth to retaliate but Merlin stepped in, "This is true." Everyone turned to him, "The more feathers she gets, the more powerful her magic gets. Healing herself with her own magic would fix her up faster than resting would." Namine nodded, "Exactly. So, we're leaving now. Right now."

Kairi sighed, her shoulders drooping in defeat. Once Namine made a decision, there was no changing her mind. Kairi collapsed on the bed. All the day's events finally caught up to her and she could barely keep her eyes open.

Namine rushed to her sister but Merlin stopped her, "She's tired. She exerted a lot of energy today and needs to recover her strength." Merlin looked around and saw Sora and Roxas sprawled out on the floor, fast asleep. "Maybe it would be best to leave in the morning?"

Namine nodded. She had been sleeping this entire time so it didn't occur to her that the others must've been exhausted. She felt so selfish, being asleep for so long and missing the entire reason they were all travelling together. Namine knew nothing about Sora and Roxas except for their names. How did Kairi meet them? Why was Kairi even here, doing all of this?

Namine looked at Merlin, her eyes full of question. Merlin chuckled, already knowing what she wanted to know and proceeded to tell her everything. He told her how their journey started, what they were searching for, what Namine had almost done to her home, and what he had told Kairi when they had first landed in this world.

"How do you know all of this?" Namine questioned.

"I'm a powerful wizard." Merlin laughed, finding himself funny while Namine just stared in confusion, "Tifa, the woman who granted their wish and gave them the ability to travel, is a dear friend of mine. She informed me of your coming, which was another reason I was looking for the feathers when you all had arrived. I wanted to be able to give them to you myself so there would be no trouble."

Namine nodded, wishing she had been awake at the time. She wanted to know who this Tifa woman was and how she could grant wishes. "I have one more question for you. Why did Kairi's magic injure me the way it did? I could have easily died had Kairi been more experienced."

Merlin nodded, "You are correct. Had Kairi knew how to correctly use her magic, you would have been obliterated just like that Heartless was. You see, Kairi is the Princess of Heart. The Princess of Heart has the purest heart in the world. There is not an ounce of darkness within her. Because her heart is so pure and full of light, she is the most powerful against beings made up of pure darkness. That is why the Heartless died so easily, and why you had almost died."

"But why did it affect me?"

"Because you are the Cursed One. While Kairi is made up of pure light, you are made up of pure darkness. You are the darkness that she lacks and she is the light that you do not have. There must always be a balance in the world. That is why her magic affected you the way it did. You are only darkness, you are meant to bring ruin to the world. Her pure magic could be the death of you."

"Does she not know?"

Merlin shrugged his shoulders, "I do not know. I am unsure if she knows but refuses to admit it or if she truly is clueless."

Namine walked to the door of the house, wanting to be outside and by herself. "So pretty much, I'm the darkness and she's the light. Her magic can kill me so I'm going to take a wild guess and say my magic can kill her too." Merlin said nothing. Namine knew his silence was the answer to her question.

Namine squeezed her eyes shut as she closed the door to Merlin's house and allowed the gentle breeze of the wind to dance around her. She didn't realize her magic had such destructive power. She didn't realize her purpose in this world was to destroy it.

"Hey." Namine turned to see Roxas standing there.

Namine briefly glanced at him before returning her gaze back to the night sky, "Where you awake that whole time?"

"I don't know what happened in your hometown, but it was serious enough to the point where you were going to die. I don't know about all this heart and destruction crap, but I do know that Kairi would do anything to save you because you are her sister. Are you telling me you wouldn't have done the same?"  
"I might end up destroying the world at the end of this journey. If I had to choose between my life or the world, I would pick the world."

"But if you had to pick between Kairi or the world, which would you choose?"

Namine remained silent, taking his words into consideration. What would she have done if it was Kairi or the world? She knew that she would do anything to save her sister.

"Saving Kairi wouldn't lead to the end of the world."

Roxas sighed, "You're right. But what's done is done, and you can't dwell on the past. What you can do is get your powers under control so maybe you can stop yourself when the time comes. Kairi paid the price for you to be alive right now, don't make her regret it."

Namine's perked up at hearing this, "What price?"

Roxas face palmed at his stupidity. WHY would he tell her that? Why couldn't he ever just keep his stupid mouth shut. "Um, the price I paid? My Oathkeeper and Oblivion, my prized weapons. I miss them so much."

"That sucks, but I was talking about Kai-"

"Sora? He also had to give up his weapon. His was the Ultima Weapon."

"Roxas, I'm talking about Kairi." Roxas looked at her while trying to come up with an excuse. Realizing he had nothing, his shoulder sagged in defeat and he let out a sad sigh. "I can't tell you."

Namine just glared daggers at him, making Roxas shrink back a little, "Woah, I'm suddenly so sleepy! Good night Namine!" Roxas rushed back inside of the house before Namine could say anything else. Namine sighed, deciding to let it go for now. She would ask Kairi herself when she got the chance.

.

The next morning, everyone was all packed and ready to go. Merlin had given the group some food for their journey. Kairi was trying to explain the concept of the gummi ship to Namine and Sora and Roxas were trying to eat as much food as they could before they left.

Merlin waved at them as a huge shadow flew past them, which they all assumed to be the gummi ship, "I have a feeling I will be seeing you again soon!" Namine briefly remembered Squall and Rinoa, remembering how they told her they would meet again. Kairi beamed at Merlin, "Thank you so much for your help! I know we will meet again!" Sora and Roxas had just smiled and waved at Merlin. When the gummi ship was directly above them, a beam shot at the group, trapping them within it. Within a second, the beam had vanished, and them along with it;

Merlin looked up at the sky, feeling their magic fade from the Hallow Bastion. "The hardships they face, the choices they make, it will all lead them into that very moment. The fate of the worlds rests in those children's hands."

...

Namine was the first to wake up, and the first thing she noticed was that her surroundings looked very large. She wondered what kind of world they were in.

The wind picked up and her hair had gotten all around her face. She tried to slightly move her head in hopes that her hair would follow as well. However, it seemed that today her hair decided to be stubborn and not listen. Namine rolled her eyes and lifted her paw to move it instead.

Wait.

"PAW!?"

.

I really want to finish this one (I think I'm almost done) since it's been here for so long. I hope you guys stick with me.


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